Games with numbers
5) add these, x3 (111)+x 2 (11)+xi(here, 3+
36 + 365 =404);
6) multiply by 9, 9(111x3 + 11x 2 + x1) (here,
9-404 = 3,636);
7) calculate the sum of the digits, X3 + x2 + x1 + x 0
(here, 3+6 + 5 + 2 = 16);
8) add to the previous sum, X3 (1,000) +
x2 (100) + x, (10) + x0 (here, 3,636 + 16 = 3,652).
We have just reconstituted the number through a
new sequence of steps.
One rotten apple can spoil the whole
basket
In the section "Where is the error?" we elicited
paradoxical or contradictory results by dividing
by zero in an algebraically unclear manner. Let us
look at zero more closely in its various mathe-
matical and philosophical senses. We know from
school what the reciprocal of a number is. If the
number is 6, its reciprocal is 1/6; if it is 12, it is 112,
and so on. The larger the number, the smaller its
reciprocal and conversely. Thus, in the sequence
1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6 ... the terms become ever smaller.
Using this method, one might imagine we could
reach the smallest number in the world. Similarly,
we might ask the meaning of dividing by zero,
namely 1/o. Is this a number at all?
28
Suppose someone discovered that 1/o = x. Now
in a normal case, say 28/4 = 7, we find 7 x 4 = 28.
Therefore, in the case of /0= x we should find
x *0 = 1; but x *0 = 0, otherwise we would have
1 = 0. Thus there is a contradiction; the same
would occur were we to divide by zero any num-
ber different from zero. There is one odd excep-
tion, namely dividing zero by zero; the result can
be any number. For instance, take any number x,
then 0 = 0 *x, and therefore 0/0 = x. It is pointless,
which is why division by zero is not allowed in
mathematics.
All this is simply an intellectual game, rigorous,
to be sure, but still a game. In mathematical
thought the simplest steps can conceal quite pro-
found concepts and principles. One of these prin-
ciples belongs to logic-the science of correct
reasoning-and states that from a contradiction
any assertion can be established. Or, to quote
medieval logicians: 'ex absurdis sequitur quod-
libet"-from the absurd anything follows.
Dividing a number by zero can produce
contradiction, dividing zero by zero can yield any
number. Ifwe cancel by zero in 18 x 0 = 3 x 0, we
get the contradiction 18 = 3. Or, as in the follow-
ing: if x = 1, then x 2 -x =x 2 - 1, x (x -1)=
(x + 1)(x - 1), and cancelling by (x - 1) gives
x = x + 1, 1 = 2; we have divided by x - 1, which
in this case equals zero. It is an error we fre-
quently make in mathematics; even Einstein once
inadvertently did so.
 Games with numbers
The symbol 0 (zero) came to the West with the
Indo-Arabic numerals. It is one of the most useful
symbols, but also one of the most ambiguous and
contradictory. Like the other numerals, zero has a
positional meaning. In 432 the 2 does not have the
same meaning it has in 423. This is also true in
430 and 403 where the zero means the absence
of units in one case and the absence of tens in the
other. The concept of zero has been developed
further in mathematics, and to an even greater
extent in philosophy and religious thought. If we
think of zero, we think of nothingness, but what is
that? Roughly we might say that nothingness is
the denial of existence, it is that which is not. Yet,
as we think of nothingness, it must somehow
exist. In short, we have an unfathomable concept
and that creates paradoxes.
Originally the notion of nothingness was extra-
neous to Greek philosophy as the Greeks would
not accept the being of that which does not exist.
Indeed, zero does not enter the Greek and Ro-
man numeral systems. It is probably the philoso-
pher Zeno (336-264 B.C.), a Phoenician from Cy-
prus and founder of Stoicism, who introduced this
non-Greek concept into ancient philosophy.
Ordinary language and mathematical
language
Many of us tend to think of mathematics as simply
a practical tool for accounting and measuring. At
29
best, we have some smattering of science, and
are familiar with a set of techniques and methods
of mathematical analysis that make our calcula-
tions work. However, we fail to grasp a basic fea-
ture of mathematics, namely its language.
The term "language' suggests everyday lan-
guage which conveys information. However, lan-
guage has other tasks, such as organizing our
cognitive activities to clarify our concepts and to
represent our results. Mathematics, with its ab-
stract symbols, fulfills this function very well. Still,
too often mental habits, learned in school in me-
chanical ways and devoid of mathematical in-
sight, make us see mathematics as containing a
different rationality and as something apart from
everyday language. This is not only absurd but
artificial. It is even more absurd to assume there
are two languages representing opposing ways
of facing reality. It is true that mathematical lan-
guage is particularly appropriate for descriptions
of certain problems and their solutions, but this
does not justify divisions in knowledge.
Number games, especially algebra games,
force us to connect everyday language and math-
ematical language and to translate then back
and forth. This proves there are no genuinely iso-
lated areas, even if everyday language is more
complex and varied and therefore better suited to
recounting subjective and personal situations.
Mathematical symbols and the relations between
them are abstract, synthetic mental constructs
 Games with numbers
(a-b)2= a2+ b2- 2ab
and unlike ordinary language, they are specific
and unambiguous. Translating from mathematical
into everyday language is therefore a particularly
useful exercise, especially at school age. Take
the expression x/3 + 5 = x12 + 6, for example.
This equation and its solution can help us to for-
mulate a problem first in everyday language, and
then synthetically in the language of mathe-
matics. In ordinary language the equation is
translated: A third of a number increased by five
equals half that number increased by six, if that
number is minus six, mathematically, x/3 + 5 = x/
30
Too often we th nk of *he ru es of
algebra as simply abstract atd we
forget that matherenat cs began for
very pract ca and concrete reasons
Take the product of two inomra s
th s s easier to understand f *t s
nked w th the probe em of dir d ng
land
Left A geometric i lustrat on of the
Simp e a gebra c pmob em Ot sqUar rig
(a b) We know troan algebra that
th s (a - asb) - a b- 2at In
a
the d agrarn we t rd It s the sma
square at the top eft
2 + 6, yields x = -6. Similarly, the expression
(x - 2)/4 = (5 - x)/6 can be read as: A quarter of
two less than a number equals one-sixth of the
difference between five and that number.
Let the reader try to translate the expression
AB = AC. If AB and AC are two segments, we say
that the segment AB is congruent with (equal to)
the segment AC. If ABC is a triangle, AB - AC
tells us that the triangle with vertices at A, B, C is
isosceles. If BC is a segment, we can say that A
is the middle point (Figs. 5, 6, 7).